WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is removing Rex Tillerson after a rocky tenure and nominating CIA Director Mike Pompeo in his place, a shake-up that appeared to take the secretary of state by surprise.

"I've worked with Mike Pompeo now for quite some time," Trump told reporters outside the White House. "Tremendous energy. Tremendous intellect. We're always on the same wavelength. The relationship has been very good, and that's what I need as secretary of state."

Trump said he and Tillerson did not see eye-to-eye on major foreign policy issues, naming the Iran nuclear deal as an example.

"I wish Rex Tillerson well," the president said. "I'm really at a point where we're getting very close to having the Cabinet and other things that I want."

"I think Rex will be much happier now," he said.

The strength of the secretary’s relationship with Trump has been a regular source of speculation.

Trump and Tillerson have been at odds numerous times since the former ExxonMobil CEO took over at Foggy Bottom. But a spokesman for Tillerson said Tuesday he had not been planning to leave and wasn't sure why he was being ousted now.

"The secretary had every intention of remaining because of the tangible progress made on critical national security issues," said Steve Goldstein, under secretary of state for public affairs. "The secretary did not speak to the president this morning and is unaware of the reason, but he is grateful for the opportunity to serve, and still believes strongly that public service is a noble calling and not to be regretted."

A senior White House official said Trump wanted Tillerson out so he could have his new team in place before upcoming talks with North Korea. The president agreed last week to sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Tillerson had said just hours earlier that such negotiations were a long way off. Last year, as Tillerson was advocating a diplomatic solution to the crisis, Trump used a tweet to disagree, telling him not to bother “wasting his time.”

“I don’t think they see eye to eye on anything,” said one senior administration official, adding that Tillerson was frequently at odds with the administration over crucial foreign policy decisions, like the move of the Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem.

The strength of the secretary’s relationship with Trump has been a regular source of speculation. Tillerson reportedly referred to the president as a "moron" last year, and while the secretary held an impromptu press conference in the wake of that report, he did not outright deny having used the term.

Meanwhile, Pompeo's favored status in the West Wing for months led administration officials to view him as Tillerson's likely replacement. Trump was at one point expected to tap Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton to run the CIA, but the White House hesitated to put another Senate seat on the table ahead of the 2018 midterms, according to a person close to Cotton. The potential offer also became less attractive to the senator, who would have been giving up a safe Senate seat to run the CIA for just two and a half years if Trump loses reelection.

"I respect his intellect. I respect the process that we've all gone through together. We have a very good relationship, for whatever reason," Trump said of Pompeo Tuesday. "I actually got along well with Rex, but really, it was a different mind set. It was a different thinking."

"I am deeply grateful to President Trump for permitting me to serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and for this opportunity to serve as Secretary of State," Pompeo said in a statement. "His leadership has made America safer and I look forward to representing him and the American people to the rest of the world to further America's prosperity."

Gina Haspel, who Trump said would replace Pompeo and who was named the CIA’s deputy director last year, is an agency veteran who in 2002 ran one of its detention sites in Thailand, where she oversaw the torture of two terrorism suspects, according to a New York Times report. Tapes of those interrogations, which included waterboarding and smashing one suspect’s head into a wall, were ordered destroyed in 2005, the Times reported.

“After 30 years as an officer of the Central Intelligence Agency, it has been my honor to serve as its Deputy Director alongside Mike Pompeo for the past year,” Haspel said in a statement. “I am grateful to President Trump for the opportunity, and humbled by his confidence in me, to be nominated to be the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.”

While the CIA’s tactics in the initial years of the war on terrorism have been widely controversial, Trump himself has expressed support for such techniques. On the 2016 campaign trail, Trump said he supported the use of waterboarding, a technique by which a subject is made to feel like they are drowning, and said he would resurrect its use. After his inauguration, the president said he would defer on the question of waterboarding to Pompeo and Defense Secretary James Mattis.

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G U

Wonder if this is in response to Rex’s support to the UK over the nerve agent situation? If it is, then Europe should be worried.

Posted on 3/13/18 | 1:58 PM CET

Europe means peace and love <3

yes, of course. Trump is blackmailed by putin.

Posted on 3/13/18 | 2:01 PM CET

Veritas Semper

Good move. Pompeo has the President’s ear and works well with him. He also knows a lot (obviously) about US’ adversaries and friends alike. Just in time for the planned (and planning) meeting with the Little Rocket Man.

Posted on 3/13/18 | 2:03 PM CET

Irene Duym

Tillerson dared to point out at Russia in the Salisbury issue. Off he goes. Obvioulsy, Putin and other wordlwide leaders like Kim Yung Un, Abe, Netanyahu and Xi Jinping, among many others, know the US president’s weaknesses and are confident he can be manipulated.

Posted on 3/13/18 | 2:25 PM CET

Antoine uk

Irene Duym

Maybe Pompeo is the right choice because they “think alike”. So, if they are both wrong, they can comfort each other in case of mutual bad choices. It looks as if having a personal opinion is not welcome under the current Administration. It shows, if need be, that like Kim Young Un, the US President is deeply convinced only his personal views should prevail, whatever they are. Again, this is certainly not a sign of cleverness.

Posted on 3/13/18 | 4:52 PM CET

Nathan Kennedy

Translation: “Tillerson didn’t kiss my ass often enough, Pompeo is a yes-man who agrees with everything I say!”

Posted on 3/13/18 | 5:10 PM CET

Joke V

Anyone knows how president Trump calls his favorite golf cart at Mar-a-Lago ?
Incitatus …
We are witnessing at this very moment the end of an empire
🙂